Vehicle backup obstacle detection and collision warning systems are useful in preventing accidents and injuries. The need for an effective backup system is evident when one considers the amount of damage low-speed backing collisions cause each year. Such collisions translate into major repair bills, countless injuries and even worse, fatalities.
A system called GUARDIAN ALERT™, that has been marketed and manufactured by Sense Technologies, Inc., is capable of warning a driver of the presence of objects within a defined area behind the vehicle when the vehicle is engaged in reverse gear. The GUARDIAN ALERT™ system employs a microwave radar technology, and applies the Doppler shift principle to detect the presence of a moving target within a certain defined range to the rear of the vehicle. This system includes dual alarms that alert drivers audibly and visually with three light-emitting diode style-illuminating lights. The system provides various detection zones behind the vehicle that are factory-adjustable, and covers the entire width of the vehicle. For example, detection zones for heavy trucks may extend twelve feet, six feet and/or three feet (12-6-3 feet) behind the truck. Similarly, detection zones for delivery vans may be 9-5-3 feet, and non-commercial passenger vehicles may have detection zones of 8-4-2 feet.
The system works in all weather and light conditions. It senses through dirt, ice, snow, fog and other weather conditions and requires low or no maintenance. The system is active when the vehicle is placed in reverse (and may be active only when in reverse to eliminate annoying false alarms). Such systems provide advantages such as non-contact sensing, environmental insensitivity, low cost, and the ability to “see through” composites such as fiberglass vehicle bodies. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. RE34,773; U.S. Pat. No. 4,797,673; U.S. Pat. No. 4,864,298; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,028,920.
The GUARDIAN ALERT™ system has proven to be effective in dramatically increasing vehicle safety. However, further improvements are possible. An area of desired improvement relates to the adaptability of a backup warning system to a number of different vehicle styles. All sorts of different vehicles (for example, passenger cars, light trucks, sports utility vehicles, heavy trucks, and any other type of vehicle) can benefit from a backup warning system.
The present invention satisfies this need, at least for vehicles having a standard trailer receiver for a trailer ball. A mount has been developed for the warning sensor of the GUARDIAN ALERT™ system that fits virtually all types of personal vehicles, provided that the vehicle has a conventional trailer receiver. Trailer receivers are attached to the rear of the frame of a vehicle. They are used for mounting trailer balls which hitch to a trailer, such as a mobile home trailer, horse trailer, open-bed trailer, etc. When the trailer ball is not inserted in the receiver, the trailer receiver is normally empty or is covered with a cap. The cap may be a decorative ornament, such as an ornamental boat propeller or an auxiliary back-up light.
The trailer receiver generally includes a hollow metal beam having a rear aperture to receive a trailer ball. The rear aperture is generally square or rectangular in cross-section. These vehicles with trailer receivers tend to be sports-utility-vehicles (SUVs), pickup trucks, vans, mini-vans and full sized sedans. However, the warning mount is suitable to any vehicle having a conventional trailer receiver hitch.
It is counter-intuitive to attach a warning sensor to a hitch mount, because the sensor will prevent the hitch from receiving a trailer plug or hitching to a trailer. However, a backup warning sensor is not usable when on the rear of a vehicle that is towing a trailer because the sensor's field of view is blocked by the trailer. Moreover, the sensor hitch mount disclosed here is easily removed from the hitch so that a trailer plug can be inserted into the hitch for towing a trailer. Accordingly, mounting a warning sensor in a trailer receiver is a novel, unobvious and useful design.
In one embodiment, the invention is a warning sensor system for a vehicle comprising: a sensor head mountable in an aperture of a trailer receiver attached to a rear of the vehicle, wherein said sensor head includes a transceiver emitting wireless signals rearwardly of the vehicle and detecting echoes from the signals reflected from an object behind the vehicle; an electrical coupling connected to the sensor head and connectable to a matching coupling on said receiver; and an alarm device mounted in a passenger compartment of said vehicle and electrically connected to said sensor head.